Sometimes you really, really anticipate a vacation and it ends up being a flop. And sometimes an amazing vacation sneaks right up on you. Our past trip was the latter. We drove down to Florida the day after Christmas (16 looooooooong hours) and spent three days at my mom's cousin's beautiful home on Anna Maria Island. I was not expecting the beach to be so warm and beautiful but it was absolutely perfect. Our beach babes were in heaven; since coming home Jilly has asked me daily when we're going back to the beach.
^ Bryan dug these seats in the sand and Mattie didn't want to ever leave
^ our official seashell collector, and she'd recruit any helpers she could find
^ Jilly said her favorite part of the beach was riding in the "fast car" aka golf cart
^ But my favorite part was watching Neal give Katie a ride the whole way (about 6 blocks) home from the beach. She screamed the entire time.
Back at the house we had the gulf right in our backyard. We enjoyed boating, paddle boarding, jet-skiing, kayaking, and lots of time in the hot tub.
^ Mattie made it a point to have a bag of cheetos in her hand at all times
^ The guys went on a very successful fishing expedition. We grilled up their catch and it was so so so so so so delicious
^ This picture is super blurry but on my birthday we went to a Mexican restaurant and Mattie met and fell in love with queso dip.
Because we were on the gulf side, we got to see spectacular sunsets every night
These pictures make me want to go back so badly- not just for the perfect weather but also for the excellent company. Often vacations with kids aren't really "vacations" but my family is so, so thoughtful and helpful; they made this trip so awesome.
